Sunday, November 23, 2014

When a Mughal Begum Faked her Pregnancy

Hi friends,

Today, i am posting an interesting historical anecdote. This is about a Mughal Begum who had faked her pregnancy. I am posting this, as i was asked many many times, few months back, if there was any possibility of a Begum faking her pregnancy ? Didn't they care/fear for their lives if such a thing was done by any one in reality, as the truth would come out some day or the other ? How could someone even think of doing so ? These questions were especially asked during the Ruqaiyya Begum's fake pregnancy track in Ekta Kapoor's Jodha Akbar. That time, without denying any such possibility, i had replied that harem was a place where the best possible conspiracies could be hatched, and one can expect the impossible to be possible there. Today i am posting the present example as one such case.

We know that the Imperial Harem was a complex hierarchical setting. It was a place where the mothers, foster mothers, wives, servants, daughters, grand-daughters, sisters, etc. relatives of the Emperor stayed. With several wives living there, often trying to attain the King’s attention or to keep the king at a distance from other ones, rivalry among them could not have been kept on the hold for long. Sometimes rivalry for his attention could take absurd forms, which were normally not considered royal. There are several anecdotes of this type registered in various accounts. I am taking one such incident narrated by Gulbadan Begum in this regard.

"She tells us an interesting story about Humayun’s mother Maham Begum, who was very keen and wanted to see the birth of a grandson to Humayun as soon as possible, after the death of Babur(1530). Hence she suggested of his marriage to Meywa Jan, a daughter of one of her high-level attendants. On the same day, by the evening, the marriage took place without any hassle. Three days after this marriage, one of Humayun’s wives, Bega Begum (she was later taken captive in the Battle of Chausa, 27th-28th June 1539, though returned back with respect, by Sher Shah Suri), who is mentioned as his favorite wife in the accounts, arrived from Kabul and announced her own pregnancy. In due course of time, Bega Begum gave birth to a daughter who was named Aqiqa Sultan Begum(she was lost at the Battle of Chausa, 27th June 1539 and never found).

At the same time, Meywa Jan Begum also made a similar announcement for her pregnancy, as done by Bega Begum earlier. The announcement made by Meywa Jan Begum was a fake one and was made by her to attract the attention towards herself instead of Bega Begum. After the birth of a daughter to Bega Begum, Maham Begum felt certain that the other baby would be a son, and she kept repeating the same sentence for months, with Meywa remaining the centre of attraction. In anticipation, various preparations for the reception of the "much awaited baby" were made, but there was no sign of the baby even after 10 months. The 11th month began to raise eyebrows and even then she tried to persuade the harem that sometimes babies took as much as a whole year to materialize. She also gave an example of her maternal aunt, who had given birth to a son with Mirza Ulugh Beg in 12th month. Mirza Ulugh Beg was the paternal uncle of Babur, Humayun's father. At this the preparations for the reception of awaited child continued. Even 12th month came, and then her fraudulent claim was exposed. She, however, reveled in all the attention that was hers for all those months, stretching for about an year, which should have been reserved for Bega Begum.!!!!

Note that this marriage of Humayun with Meywa Jan Begum took place in 1531, which was long before Humayun's marriage to Hamida Bano Begum(1541)."

The English translation, summed up account from the pen of Gulbadan Begum is present here(Pg-113). This has been sourced from the Persian account of Humayun-Nama few lines before section22a, and then between 22a and 22b."My lady, who was Maham Begum, had a great longing and desire to see a son of Humayun. Wherever there was a good-looking and nice girl, she used to bring her into his service(get married). Meywa Jan, a daughter of Khadang , the chamberlain (yasawal;man of rank of gold/silver staff) was in my employ. One day (after) the death of His Majesty(Babur), my lady said : ' Humayun, Meywa Jan is not bad. Why you not take her into your service ?' So, at her word, Humayun married and took her that very night.

Three days later Bega Begum came from Kabul. She became in the family way. In due time(b'ad az yak sal), she had a daughter, whom they named Aqiqa. Meywa said to Lady (Aka) Maham Begum, ' I am in the family way, too.' Then my lady got ready two sets of weapons, and said : 'Whichever of you bears a son, I will give him good arms.' Then she packed up the arms, and got ready gold and silver walnuts. She procured also the (special) arms of a Mughal commander, and was very happy, and kept saying :'Perhaps one of them will have a son.' She kept watch till Bega Begum's Aqiqa was born. Then she kept an eye on Meywa. Ten months went by. The eleventh also passed. Meywa said : 'My maternal aunt was in Mirza Ulugh Beg's harem. She had a son in the 12th month ; perhaps I am like her.' So they sewed tents(khirgaha dokhta, it should be 'pitched tents') and filled pillows(means made all preparations). But in the end everyone knew she was a fraud.

"

I hope this sheds some light upon the options/acts which could be taken up by the harem inmates, for various reasons, often for jealousy with other wives or for being the most noted one in eyes of the Emperor, or for gaining his attention(this was the present case), or for attaining the highest place in the Imperial Harem. There are examples present in almost all the categories, provided we search the dust of chronicles.In fact, it was under Akbar that the harem became a very powerful institution functioning like an administrative authority, noted by Abu'l Fazl.!!!. The ladies became influential during this time, like Akbar's mother, foster mothers, his aunt, wives, daughters.

Haha Abhay! interesting. such affairs were common part of royalty. we hear from our elders about likewise incidents.harem had its peculiar politics.but faking pregnancy is unbelievable though true at the same time.keep these articles coming.

Thanks for sharing this interesting historic piece Abhay :) .....But I don't know what to say.....It is so similar to Ruku's (in JA) case....Even she was seeking attention and wanted audha :-ss......Do you have any info, on what was Humayun's or Maham Begum's or others reaction on knowing about this fake pregnancy???....No one gave her a piece of mind for fooling / playing with sentiments of Humayun M Begum and the other royal family members who were so looking forward to a waaris??? :-ss.....and what a foolish idea to go with increasing size of pillow for 12 months and they were fooled too :))....Royal Hakimas ki to shaamat aayi hogi c-)

Hi Abhay, thanks for the info really a very good info but still i want to know how is ruq and Akbar relation in real is they r like in the show r differ so ruq fake track is taken from here Abhay why did the show lot of phase in Akbar life which r really very interesting before salims birth can u tell me after AMer prince came in Akbar life how many rajput did Akbar married

Exactly Iqra, I was thinking of Ruks too. I was mad at Jallal when her forgave her. But now this story made me chuckle. Anyways I can only laugh at what the show has become now. If you take the events of the show too seriously you will end up getting depressed.

Thanks Abhay, for sharing this interesting historical piece of information.

Desperate humans can stoop to any level to seek attention. So did Meywa Begum, even though a royal, was human too. She was ready to go to any lengths, to receive Humayun's attentions.Maybe this incident was the 'inspiration' for the makers, to show Rukaiyya's fake pregnancy.

Meena,Akbar married mostly for political reasons. He was the one to start building the empire and hence established political alliances. After marrying Amer princess, he married approx. 7 more Rajput princesses.Yes show skipped many events from their lives before Salim's birth. That was a blunder. I mentioned it here.http://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.com%2F2014%2F11%2Fhistorical-tracks-for-jodha-akbar-show.html

Friends,This is a common question that what happened to the wife who faked her pregnancy. So answering here. There is nothing mentioned about it, upto the page where i have read till now. Also, Humayun had gone to Chausa at the time, her "bhandaphod/expose" happened.

But her father continued to remain in the honorable position in Humayun's service is a recorded fact, and supported him when Munim Khan deserted Humayun.

He was the one to head a party who attended/welcomed Bairam Khan when he was returning from Gujarat on 12th April 1543.

Note the years, she faked her pregnancy in 1531 but her father continued to serve at a distinguished position even in 1543. Seems she was forgiven.!!!!!

By the way, it also makes me wonder, that she could fool everyone for 12 months.!!! And used pillows. Till now i saw this on television, now this is coming across as reality.

Abhay, pls don't mind. :) This Meywa Jan incident reminded me of 2 ghastly lady pirates, who broke the glass ceiling in early 18th century, to wreak havoc on the high seas. It is kind of testimony to the fact that women found ways to beat the guys at their own game in ways we would not approve of today but which showed their daring and enterprise nonetheless.

Women pirates were super-rare because women (leave alonelady pirates) were banned from pirate ships and those who got caught were killed along with those who helped them come on board. So how did Anne Bonny and Mary Read become pirates – they disguised themselves as men!

Mary Read was born in Plymouth, England in 1690. Hergrandmother was very rich. But she hated girls. Mary’s mother tricked the grandmother into believing that Mary was a boy, by usually dressing her as one. The poor grandmother left all her wealth to Mary.

But by 14, Mary got tired of this pretense and ran away fromhome, still disguised as a man. She fought in the army in Belgium. She fell in love with a handsome soldier, but he died soon after. Heart-broken, she joined a merchant ship bound for the Caribbean Sea.

Anne Bonny’s father was a wealthy Irish lawyer. At 16, Anneran away and married a good-looking but weak sailor. They took a lift on a pirate ship also bound for the Caribbean Sea. Anne fell in love with the ship’s captain, “Calico” Jack Rackham, a cruel and ruthless man, at first sight. (The nickname was due to his love for his stripy, calico trousers.) Seriously, what do girls find so attractive about bad guys???

Anne joined the ship’s crew as a cabin boy, obviously withthe connivance of the captain. One day, the pirates captured a ship and forced a young Dutch sailor, Mark Reid, to join them. Anne fell in love with Mark, who turned out to be Mary Read! Since their secret was safe between them, they joined forces and became a famous (notorious???) pair.

They were the fiercest fighters and the best in cursing andswearing in Calico’s crew. In 1720, when their ship was captured, these 2 were the only ones still fighting from the deck. All the other men including the captain were drunk and scared and went into hiding. LOL

Unfortunately, they were all captured. The men were allhanged. But Anne did tell the captain the night before he was hanged that if he had fought like a man, he’d not be hung like a dog. That must have hit him right where it should!

Anne and Mary were both expecting babies and spared fromdeath. Mary died later in prison but Anne vanished without trace.

Radhika,Nice points. And they are all valid. There are 2 sides to a story. :)About Humayun, i have read one thing and that is, once one of his wives complained to him that he is not spending time with her, but he regularly talks/meets everyone including his mother and aunts, etc. At this, Humayun called a meeting of the senior ladies of the harem, and made an announcement/request to all, not to keep ill-feelings for him if he failed to spend time with them. He said - It was not possible for spend time with "EVERYONE". It was a very polite announcement. I think the lady in question who complained was Bega Begum, not sure, i will confirm if i read again. ;p

That's not really nice from my POV, Abhay :) I mean, how can he marry someone when he cannot assure her of his attention even? It's most unfair to the woman and surely, women have feelings too and deserve more from a marriage than security, privileges and the chance to produce the next waris?

May be Akbar was right when he said that a man should marry only as many women as he can keep happy. :)

radhika - ur point z valid. being a woman i do not think it 2 b wrong on bega begum's part 2 ask time 4 herself. humayun can have reasons for 'tis. i will wait 4 abhay's details. but i dont disapprove bega begum's demands. she demanded her rights being a lawful wife.

I don't think this kind of incident was common. It seems a one-off thing. Though Abhay can confirm this better. :)

Like I said earlier, Iqra, this wasn't a major crime considering the kind of crimes Mughal emperors were used to facing and Humayun did need to forgive her and hush up the matter to save his own image.

I don't know about Humayun, but Akbar suffered so many conspiracies at the hands of his kinsmen and forgave them many times. The necessities of politics require a certain amount of tolerance, I guess. :)

Hi Abhay!! I have kind of migrated from IF and have thoroughly enjoyed your posts and u have done a commendable job regarding the blog whether it's the organization of the blog or it's contents :)

This info has amused me as a reader but I also feel sorry for the condition and the state of affairs these highly insecure ladies of harem shared lifelong who once upon a time were perhaps very sane and normal and maybe happy before marriage.Maybe a 21st century reader would find this faking of preg aspect very absurd but from the haremmates' point of view, maybe getting lost in the crowd of harem with no emperor's support or no power must have been very scary.This perhaps made them very desperate.I don't support this but can understand their plight.The constant urge to compete and succeed for the emperor's attention and the survival of the fittest phenomena must have shoved the morality principle out.Also there was no escape from the harem.Maybe lots of girls competed,so the newly arrived begums also naturally tuned in into the spirit of the competition who didn't want to lose out.So Meywa Jan begum's hard work of 12 months,ultimately went down the drain.This must have maybe,temporarily gotten Humayun's attention but also his disappointment in her.Did she have a real pregnancy/child later on?

Hey Abhay !!! Sorry subscribing so late , but i will sure catch up with all the posts and try to comment my view on it !!!Regarding faking pregnancy's , this only shows how polygamy of that era has made woman stoop so low and as this generation's women i feel it is against any ethics !!! would comment on other chapters later :)

Radhika and Iqra, Such faking incidences, don't appear common as far as i know. But, yes this post does tells us that such incident can not be negated.

Why was she forgiven.?There can be many reasons. Perhaps her father was also important, and may be needed politically. Also, it is possible that the matter was simply brushed aside. Even Gulbadan Begum narrates it very simply without any hint of anger or any extreme treatment.

Radhika,Akbar was very right. ;p He must have learnt a lot. It is very certain a lot of harem politics must have happened.

About Humayun, i only mentioned what he said. True, if we see from today's perspective then it was unfair for the wives, but those were such times, where these things happened. Not all the wives were lucky like MUZ for Akbar etc.. One needed to carve out a place for herself.

BTW, Humayun took a "legal signed agreement" from his ladies that they will not harbor ill-feelings in case he does not spends time with them. Bega Begum had even taunted Humayun. LOL.

Abhay, it's really funny that she could fool the elderly ladies fr 12 months! Can't think of the plight of hakimas who had to be party to her nautanki .I think even Salima begum was refering to similar incident at the time of Jodha's earlier pregnancy (which was not in reality) when Akbar went to ask her whether there cud be symptoms of pregnancy without pregnancy Thank u Radhika, fr sharing that ineresting story.Feel bad fr the girls.

What would happen history-geek, if a king happened to have a son frm a baandhi or an ordinary lady, before any queen frm royal family?Would he be treated as waris?I am also amazed at the ease at which Gulbadan begum is narrating the story,without any fury or comment!

OMG someone actually faked pregnancy Chee how cheap Is that aisa koi karta hai bhala... I know Heram was a place where diffrent kind's of cheap conspiracies were hatched.... but Faking Pregnency is way too much and so not fit to be forgiven... I wish Meywa Jan was punished and not Forgiven.. then our Jalal would have also punished his Bachpan ki Aziz dost aur BEK Jaan Begam....

This idea of Faking Pregnency is repulsive... I am shocked to know about this.... But I also agree with Radhika that if Humayun can marry her just to beget an heir then he should also face some of the consequences of such an attempt.... As a woman I feel it is an insult to the woman who is being used to get an heir and also to all those wives who were unable to produce heir.... maybe I am too modern but this is also unacceptable.....

Both Faking Pregnency and Marring for an heir is gross and is insult to womanhood as well as motherhood...

Pls think of the incident from the POV of a medieval young girl who is trying to create her own space in a harem full of beautiful women. It was a question of survival, not just getting the emperor's attention or love. Any woman who could not get the emperor's attention had to spend the rest of her life utterly neglected and perhaps as a "bandi" to the more "successful" begums. (Think how Ruq treats the other begums. :) )

Our sensibilities are different because we live in a modern, monogamous society and do not have to compete for our spouse's attention. But, like Abhay said, Humayun even had documents drawn up that clearly stated that no begum could complain of lack of attention.

Any lie that can benefit one person without harming anyone else should be looked at in context. :) Here, I cannot censure Meywa Jan because though she lied, she didn't mean any harm to anyone else. She was only trying to make her own position strong.

When we look back at historical characters, we can always see flaws in the best of them. But we need to look at them from the perspective of their place and time in history, with kindness and understanding. :)

Geeta,The "serious" punishments for Mughal Begums are not known to me as of now. Only thing which i have known is - Distancing yourself from them, or stripping them of their powers is the worst form of punishment.

About the punishment in MP show for Bhatiyani Queen, i think that is NR. LOL. I have not read that she was put up in jail ever. She was his favorite wife and exercised a lot of influence on him ; Like HK on Akbar. :)

Geeta,The king/heir of royal blood was preferred over others. In Akbar's time, we know that preference was more for Daniyal, to be the next ruler among all the sons of Akbar, as he was free from addiction earlier. He too was also a son of HK/MUZ, as we know. :)

But Geeta, then and now, the royalty (or today's celebrities) was very particular about keeping skeletons firmly locked in cupboards. They did not want their image to suffer or their honor mocked at by the common people and so bore all kinds of scandalous matters silently.

It may also be possible that the queens knew the darkest secrets of the kings and could blackmail them or expose them if pushed to a corner. This may also have made the kings keep quiet. :)

I cannot believe that the Rana punished Dhirbai! This seems like NR to me. Dhirbai was powerful till the end of Rana's life. She made him choose her son Jagmaal as the heir over the real heir, MP.

There are so many layers to the incident. Many friends have referred to them already. I am just recapping them.

1. Meywa must have been a young, nubile girl at the time she was "pressed into service". I have no sympathy for either Humayun or his mother in this particular case because they were also "using" a young girl to "produce" a waaris. If they could "use" her for their selfish motives, I don't see why we should point fingers at Meywa for "seeking attention" for a year.

2. If Humayun married so many girls for the sake of a "waaris", it should have been his responsibility for ensuring that they all got his attention, if not love. If anyone felt neglected and went to extra measures to seek attention from him, he must be the first to be blamed.

3. I agree most such plots are for gaining power, but here I feel, Meywa was only seeking to divert attention from Bega Begum towards herself. It is an indiscretion, no doubt, but nothing in the nature of a serious crime, if we consider the really serious crimes that were committed by insiders against the Mughal rulers.

4. The hakimas and the personal staff of the begum must have been privy to her secret. So it is possible that the hakimas esp were not really all that loyal to Humayun but could be lured by others.

5. Forget about the others. If Humayun was not able to prise the secret from Meywa in a year, then he deserved to be thus fooled.

6. It is interesting that most likely the begum was forgiven and her father allowed to remain in royal service. This may have been due to the fact that if such a case came out, Humayun would look foolish in the eyes of his people. So it must have been hushed up.

7. It is interesting that the Mughals got quite a bit of their private lives including embarrassing incidents recorded for posterity. Must have been pretty self-confident guys.

Iqra, Radhika,preeti, this forces me to ask Abhay, at any time in Mughal history, was any begum punished fr any fault whatsoever? They say Ruqs was punished, but what kind of punishment was it? She wasn't jailed. What do we infer frm this? Either the kings were large hearted regarding their begums or they didn't hv guts to punish them. Btw, Radhika in Maharana Pratap they hv shown queen Dhirbai punished n sent to kaal kothari fr some years, I don't know how many yrs, as i don't follow it regularly.But at least we hv one Rajvanshi king punishing his queen, unlike Mughals

radhika - the peer sahib of fatehpur sikri tells one about jodha 4 generation after generation. she was very special 4 akbar. after twins death both visited sheikh baba chisti. they tell akbar did not want to leave jodha alone in the grief of intekaal of husain hasan. consequently he took her with him. he had many women but he was specially attached 2 her only. this tale is 4rm late 1990's when my cousin sister visited Sikri.

Lovely Iqra, I am so glad to hear this anecdote of the bond between akbar and Jodha. Abhay tells us something similar in one of his posts. I am a huge believer in oral traditions/stories passed down thorough generations.. As important as written chronicles are , we cannot discount these stories. After all some of India's most impt religious texts were passed down by oral tradition

Hello Iqra and Coolpree, yes, this is very true and I myself have witnessed the Peerzadas in FS telling about their special relation.:) In fact there is a special anecdote about the built of the FS inner Sanctorium built by Akbar , for a special purpose ;-)

hello Kamal, thanks for your input. I am a late arrival at IF but went back through most of the historical discussions. always loved your input. Can you please share this special anecdote by pm or on this blog with us. I think you alluded to it on the forum but when I tried pming you your inbox was full. My id there is also CoolpreeWarm RegardsPreeti

i have not visited sikri. my cousin has. she told me many things years back. many i have forgotten. i will share in future.

in sikri they say, there was no women lyk her. jodha was only wife 2 have access 2 akbar's khwabgah more than any wife of akbar. many wives did not enter his khwabgah for even 1 tym. his khwabgah was connected 2 jodha's.

I object to that, history-geek! Queen dhirbai might not hv been punished, she might be his dearest qn, but she was a great cospiater all thru,right? She wanted her son Jagmaal to be coronated. How can such a woman can be on par with our dear lady MUZ?

Radhika, in the serial, she has been in the kaal kothari fr sometime. obviosly, one of her innumerable cospiracy must hv seen the light of day. She was released to facilitate the alliance of MP with the rajkumari of Marwar. I started watching it fr the girl child actresses. n also curious abt how Akbar is portrayed.But the amt of conspiracy there is really notiating.:(

Thank u, Abhay, when u do known their name let me also know it pls.I was very much mesmerized by the Great Akbar i want to every bit of history but its not possible as iam not able to search it by my own but if u got u pls let me know, thanks and keep continue this work to dig more about him

Thanks Abhay,u made a lot of history info which i loved to read i was trying to read all ur post but due to time some have i had read small bit but i enjoy read u post i came to know more interesting history if u made this topic pls inform me thankshow is Akbar last days who all with him in those days can u give this in detail if u have link pls send me

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